Historical and statistical soccer stories from all over the world, old and a bit older.

Google+ Followers

Monday, January 13, 2014

One Hit Wonders: Third Lanark (Scotland), 1903-04

Out of 117
championships in Scotland, Glasgow based clubs Rangers (54) and Celtic (44) won
98 of them, only leaving a few crumbles for all the other teams. Back in 1903, Third Lanark from Glasgow was
one of five clubs aiming for the Scottish title that year. The red and white’s
pulled it off, and celebrated their one and only championship.

As one of
the co-founders of the Scottish league, Third Lanark (founded in 1872 by an
army regiment, the Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers) wasn’t making headlines
in the 19th century. Most of the time the club finished mid
table, with a fourth place (in 1893,
1895 and 1902) as their best result. But they did win the Scottish Cup, back
in 1889 beating Celtic 2-1. At the start of the twentieth century, nothing
really changed. Third Lanark only managed to reach seventh place during the
1902-03 season, with James Johnstone (10 goals) and William Wardrope (7 goals)
as their main goal scorers.

Although
not successfully on the soccer field, 1903 was something of a turning point for
the club. First the club severed their links with the military and got
incorporated as a company. And just as important, they took over the stadium that
Queen's Park had loaned before, and renamed it New Cathkin Park, later Cathkin Park.

New
Signings

New signing Thomas McKenzie

Encouraged
by these new developments, the team had bigger plans for the upcoming season.
The team did have two new signings. Scottish international and prolific goal scorer
John Campbell (champion with Aston Villa back in 1896 and with Celtic in 1898)
came from Celtic. Teammate Hugh Wilson, at Third Lanark since 1901, had an even
better reputation. He was English league champion with Sunderland in 1892, 1893
and 1895 and is considered as one of Sunderlands best players ever. The other important new
face in the squad was promising young striker Thomas McKenzie. Later this
season, 22-year old James Comrie (who died on the battlefield in Belgium in the
First World War) made his debut in the team, but only played four league
matches this season. With a great goalkeeper, James S. Raeside, and two solid
defenders, Robert Barr and William McIntosh, Third Lanark probably did already have one of the best defenses of the league. In midfield Thomas P. Sloan was
elementary.

And with
the two new signings upfront, the club might have a chance of challenging the
other clubs the upcoming season.

Vital
matches against Rangers

Straight from
the start of the season, five clubs were involved in the fight for the title,
and Third Lanark was one of them. The others were Rangers, Celtic, reigning champion
Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian. Third Lanark lost their first match away to
Rangers 3-4, but did beat Hearts (2-1) and Celtic (3-1, away) in the next two
rounds. Rangers just lost one point in their first seven matches. So when Third
Lanark and Rangers had their return match early in the season on October 10,
1903, it was vital for the red and white’s to win. Twenty five thousand people
saw them do just that, winning 1-0. And after winning their next match 2-0
against Hibernians, while Rangers only managed a 0-0 against Celtic, this was
the ranking after nine league matches:

Third Lanark's outfit in
1903-04

Played

Points

Rangers

9

14

Third Lanark

9

14

Celtic

9

13

Heart of Midlothian

9

11

Hibernian

9

9

Despite
their recent downfall, Rangers still was the favorite, mainly because of their
enourmous scoring ability. But Third Lanark hadn’t lost a match since the two clubs
met in August in the first round. And Third Lanark continued not to lose until
January 16, 1904, in their 18th league match of the season (1-2
against Morton). By then, Rangers had already played 23 of their 26 matches, in
which they collected 34 points. Third Lanark had five points less, but also
five matches extra in hand. The other teams weren't serious contenders
anymore. Hibernian was completely out of the picture, Hearts (19 matches, 26
points) and Celtic (19 matches, 28 points) still might have a small chance. Four
weeks later, Hearts beat Third Lanark 4-1 at home and really got on the champions
trail again. As of February 13, 1904 it promised to be an exciting finish of
the season:

Played

Points

Rangers

25

36

Celtic

22

32

Third Lanark

20

31

Heart of Midlothian

22

31

Looking at
the remaining fixtures, everybody at that time still expecting Third Lanark to be
the next champions. They had already met every rival home and away, and were left
with six matches against Port Glasgow, Airdrie, Motherwell, Kilmarnock, Dundee and
Hibernian. And being the favorite didn’t paralyze the team. Quit the opposite,
as Third Lanark won all their remaining matches and finished the season four
points ahead of Heart of Midlothian, who
had won their last five matches.

So this is
how the Scottish season finished, back in 1903-04:

P

W

D

L

Points

Goals

Third Lanark

26

20

3

3

43

61-26

Heart of Midlothian

26

18

3

5

39

63-35

Celtic

26

18

2

6

38

69-28

Rangers

26

16

6

4

38

80-33

Dundee

26

13

2

11

28

55-46

St Mirren

26

11

5

10

27

45-38

Partick Thistle

26

10

7

9

27

43-40

Queen’s Park

26

6

9

11

21

28-47

Port Glasgow Athletic

26

8

4

14

20

33-49

Hibernian

26

7

5

14

19

31-42

Morton

26

7

4

15

18

31-51

Airdrieonians

26

7

4

15

18

32-62

Motherwell

26

6

3

15

15

26-61

Kilmarnock

26

4

5

17

13

27-66

Hugh Wilson

Third
Lanark did get the most points, but three clubs scored more goals.
Defensively they certainly were the best team, with just 26 conceded goals and eleven
matches with a clean sheet. Their biggest victory was a 8-2 trashing of
Queen’s Park. The league was basically won by twelve players, with another five
only participating in a few matches. Third Lanark’s best goal scorers were
Thomas McKenzie, Robert Graham and good
old Hugh Wilson, with eleven goals each. Which was slightly less than Alexander
Bennett (Celtic), William Porteous
(Hearts) and David Lindsay (St Mirren) who all scored thirteen goals. Rangers’
forward Robert C. Hamilton was in a league of his own with 28 goals.

This squad
of seventeen players helped Third Lanark to become Scottish champion, for the
first and last time in the club’s history:

Third Lanark 1903-04

Appearances

Goals

Scottish caps

James Smith Raeside (GK)

26

0

1 (0 goals)

John H. Cross

25

1

1 (0 goals)

William Wardrope

25

7

John Neilson

25

2

Hugh Wilson

24

11

4 (1 goal)

William McIntosh

24

0

Robert Barr

24

0

Robert Graham

24

11

Thomas P. Sloan

23

1

1 (0 goals)

John Campbell

21

6

12 (4 goals)

Thomas McKenzie

21

11

James Johnstone

17

9

James Comrie

4

1

George Archibald

1

0

Hugh Barclay

1

1

A Findlay

1

0

Thomas McMurdo

1

1

Epilogue

After this
remarkable season, Third Lanark did have some good years ahead. The next season
they managed third place, six points behind The Old Firm, who needed a play off
to decide the league winner (Celtic won). After 1904 it took the other clubs 28
years to break the Celtic / Rangers dominion, when Motherwell won the league in
1931-32. Also, Third Lanark did win the Scottish Cup in 1905 and lost the final
a year later.

Until the
mid-twenties Third Lanark stayed at the highest level, and was back at it in
the early sixties. Unfortunately, Third
Lanark also struck fame by their losing streak of 28 matches, starting on November
28, 1964 and, of course, leading to relegation. Two years later, in 1967, the
club went bankrupt. After four years, supporters re-formed Third Lanark, and
this club is playing in the Greater Glasgow Amateur League ever since.